The article I read was on the government shutdown. Specifically it’s effects on the FAA and how they are unable to perform their regular tasks on schedule. The article is specifically Government Shutdown Causing Crisis in the Aviation Industry, written by Stephen Pope. Pope goes into the specifics of how the FAA had been loosing track of it’s scheduled plans. And how that will affect general aviation for years to come. Pope says “The impact of this shutdown is real and growing on the general aviation manufacturing and maintenance industry(.)” He goes on to say “FAA is unable to approve training manual revisions, cannot authorize training center evaluators, and will not be able to re-certify flight simulators. Without these approvals, training centers are no longer able to provide new or recurrent pilot training.” Showing direct impact on my current situation in flight training.
The lack of effective communication by the government has lead to this shutdown. And has also created issues with the TSA and it’s subsidiaries. Obviously no one wants to work without pay, and as of now we have just had the affected federal employees second zero dollar pay check. Some of the directly affected are the air traffic controllers. These people have been put in a situation where they have to work without pay while doing a very stressful job that requires high attention and very good communication skills. When someone doesn’t want to work and are annoyed by the situation they have a higher chance of making an error. And a communication error with a traffic controller can be fatal. There are procedures and regulations in place to prevent a tired, angry, or otherwise mentally drained person from being in a position to make a mistake. And the shutdown is putting strain on more than can be relieved.
The fact that the aviation industry is hurting the most by the shutdown is pushing for a resolution, hopefully sooner than later.
https://www.flyingmag.com/government-shutdown-causing-crisis-in-aviation-industry